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On language schools and weirdo ads
Recently I mentioned "
weirdo language school ads" with an apparent bondage theme, and quoted a reader who had taught English in Japan and offered some psycho-sexual interpretation of the ads. Two updates:
First, the latest entry in this category, from a billboard in Beijing yesterday. Speaking personally, nothing could give me greater confidence in the quality of English language instruction than the slogan, "Talenty English, Talenty Education."
(Yes, "Talenty" appears to be the name of the school, but I'm not sure that helps.)
Second, a letter I received from an official of the Gaba
Eikaiwa (English conversation) school in Japan. He objects to the way the school's reputation was characterized by the reader I quoted. In the spirit of fair reply, his letter follows:
Dear Mr. Fallows,
I happened to recently read your blog of April 14th 2009, entitled "More on weirdo language school ads (updated)". As the person in charge of recruiting new instructors at Gaba language school, I was somewhat disturbed by the several inaccuracies referenced as "testimony from a 'former English teacher in Japan". I would like to bring these to your attention.
Firstly let me mention that the ad pictured is not reflective of current Gaba advertising. It was a poster that last ran over 6 years ago. Current Gaba advertising is significantly different in theme. Please see the J-peg attachment of our current advertising as a sample. While the ad certainly was "unique" and I won't quibble with the fact that some might even find it 'weird', I would hope that the fact that this ad is from 2002/2003 could be mentioned somewhere in the copy.
Here is Gaba's current ad, featuring its "Man to Man" (マン ツー マン) teaching approach. Underneath that, as a reminder, the previous ad; then, after the jump, the rest of the letter:
New ad
Old ad
_____
Continue reading "On language schools and weirdo ads" »
China v. Japan: the packed-train factor
Superficially Japan and China are similar; in nuance and operating details they're generally opposites, as illustrated previously
here. Kathy Kriger, whom I knew in Tokyo twenty years ago and who now lives in Casablanca (where she runs, no joke,
Rick's Cafe), reminds me about an important difference: What happens inside a packed train.
Japan's subways are flat-out more intensely crowded than anything I've seen in China. In Tokyo, uniformed and white-gloved "packers" are normal. The Beijing and Shanghai subways are merely "self-packed," with people crowding their way in but without that extra ratchet-up of density that only trained, professional packers can provide. In Tokyo I lived through the scene below more often than I want to recall. (Photo from
Encarta.)
Clearest sign that the photo was taken in Japan rather than China: Not the packers but the next car-load of passengers, waiting punctiliously in line!
As I recently
mentioned, a very-crowded Beijing subway provides the opportunity for petty theft. In Japan, it's more like petty... petting. Kriger says:
That brought back a flood of memories from Tokyo's train and
subway commutes. My most vivid were from when I lived a year in
Yokohama and commuted into Tokyo first on the JNR Negishi-sen, the blue
train. The worst was the morning, crammed in and unable to move -
invariably forced to look over the shoulder of a guy immersed in a
porno comic book. When it got too much I got out and boarded the next
train. But robbery was never a problem, ever.
My favorite story was
forgetting my purse on the upper rack exiting in Yokohama from the
Yokosuka line enroute to Yokosuka - the end of the line - and going
there the next morning to retrieve my handbag and sign a form verifying
that everything was still there.
We women didn't fear
the pick pocketers so much as those who rode the trains to take
advantage of the crowded conditions to let their hands wander. I think
it might have been Jean Pearce [a local writer] who recounted a story when an outraged
American woman, accosted on a crowded subway, grabbed the offending
hand, raised it and said in Japanese, "Whose hand is this?
The porno-comic factor was such an omnipresent aspect of Japanese public life that it drove my wife from a slow boil into outright constant rage against adult males in general, including the one who happened to be living in the same house. As for the "whose hand is this?" factor, that was so common that there is a standard term for it in Japanese (
chikan, or in hiragana ちかん) and signs outside crowded stations warning "beware of subway gropers." I don't think I ever saw a sign in Japan warning against pickpockets. More
here.
Aviation buffs only: Japan-Taiwan snapshots
After the jump, several more pictures from the recent Tokyo-Okinawa-Taipei flight in a Cirrus SR22. If you're not interested in small airplanes, never mind! (All photos clickable for larger version.)
Continue reading "Aviation buffs only: Japan-Taiwan snapshots" »
What was I thinking (Tommy Lee Jones update)
It must have been the travel blear of the Beijing-Tokyo flight, but I missed the obvious point about the Tommy Lee Jones "Boss" advertising campaign mentioned earlier. Here we truly have a case of life imitating art. Jones is living out the fictional role portrayed by Bill Murray in every gaijin's favorite movie about Japan, Lost in Translation:
I realize that Murray's role was itself art imitating life, based on countless Japanese ad campaigns by foreign celebrities. But Jones's "Boss" presentation does seem to owe something to Murray's "Bob Harris" in the movie. Thanks to Eric Redman for pointing out the connection. I'm sure that he, like me, remembers that Lost had another main character "Charlotte." Of course the homage to a great movie could not have gone that far, but it's interesting to think about.
Japan is a way better place than it used to be
Haven't tried any of 'em yet, though.
(For those joining the story late: brewers' cheapskate reluctance to use hops is generally the bane of the dreadful Asian beer industry.)
Taster's update after jump:
Continue reading "Japan is a way better place than it used to be" »
"The" way vs "a" way (Japan v China dept)
This is not a scientific comparison, but when i saw one scene I remembered another.
This is the recent scene: yesterday afternoon, Naha airport, Okinawa, Japan. Line crew gassing up a Cirrus SR22:
Continue reading ""The" way vs "a" way (Japan v China dept)" »
While I'm at it (flying in Japan dept)
What I saw out my window around 11am today, from 8000 feet:
Tommy Lee Jones, in the role he was born for
On a thousand billboards and a million vending machines across Japan, Suntory "Boss" coffee has a new face:
Here's the old Boss, by the way, still honored with his picture on the can:
Continue reading "Tommy Lee Jones, in the role he was born for" »
Not so thankful for this at Thanksgiving (Japan Big Brother dept)
Flying from Beijing to Tokyo this morning -- generally an invigorating experience! Japan looks startlingly neat and organized even if you're arriving from Switzerland. And when you're coming not from Switzerland but from China.... Anyhow I arrived excited at the prospect of a few days here.
Unfortunately Japan's way of ushering in the Thanksgiving holidays has been to institute mandatory fingerprinting and photographing of all foreigners entering the country. Let me put this bluntly: this is an incredibly degrading, offputting, and hostility-generating process. The comment is not anti-Japanese: when the U.S. does this to foreigners, it's wrong and degrading too (as many people, including me, have pointed out over the years). But Japan has just ushered in this procedure, and they deserve to take some heat for it.
Continue reading "Not so thankful for this at Thanksgiving (Japan Big Brother dept)" »
